


you could be happy

by brighterthanstars



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 20:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19325782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brighterthanstars/pseuds/brighterthanstars
Summary: There’s many ways one’s soulmate can be found; Some people are born with name of their soulmate, some find the first words their soulmate will tell them somewhere on their bodies, and some other people manage to catch a glimpse of that single red thread that ties them to someone else forever.Matt is born a healthy baby boy, skin perfectly pale and with pink in his cheeks. He’s completely blank.





	you could be happy

**Author's Note:**

> There's literally no explanation for this.  
> Also, I started writing this almost two years ago then got fed up with it today and just decided to finish it.  
> This was totally inspired by the Snow Patrol's "You Could Be Happy" Live at the Royal Albert Hall because I'm basic like that, hence the title

i.

 

There’s many ways one’s soulmate can be found; Some people are born with name of their soulmate, some find the first words their soulmate will tell them somewhere on their bodies, and some other people manage to catch a glimpse of that single red thread that ties them to someone else forever.

 

Matt is born a healthy baby boy, skin perfectly pale and with pink in his cheeks. He’s completely blank.

 

ii.

 

The first time he feels something pick at his skin, he’s with his mom in a supermarket picking up stuff for his 8th birthday party so he doesn’t get to look at his ankle for a while.

 

He almost forgets to but it stings when it gets wet during his shower. It’s red and swollen but it doesn’t hurt, not really. He’s really gentle as he dries off, and he stands there staring at the soft **M** that showed up for a long time.

 

iii.

 

The **M** stays there alone for another year before a tiny **i** appears next to it. He’s about to turn ten when an almost invisible **c** shows up next to the other letters.

 

iv.

 

Nothing more appears on his skin for years. It doesn’t burn, it doesn’t sting, it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t do anything.

 

He’s about to turn fifteen when his ankle tingles again, but not for the reason he thought it would. Not for any of the reasons it should be.

 

The **c** isn’t there anymore, it’s not that it’s soft or that he can’t see it; it just isn’t there anymore.

 

Which, of course. Good to know not even his soulmate wants him.

 

He wraps it up, covers it so he never has to look at it again, never has to see how someone that doesn’t even know him decides to leave him. He doesn’t have time for this. He has a family to avoid and hockey to play.

 

v.

 

He goes to Sarnia and they like him enough, they like his style enough that they want him to _stay_.

 

So he stays, and he plays.

 

And he plays.

 

And he gets drafted to the fucking NHL, and he plays.

 

And he plays.

 

And he goes back to Sarnia, gets named captain, and he plays.

 

And he plays.

 

And he cracks it, he _actually_ gets to the show, and he plays.

 

And he plays.

 

And he plays and he plays and he plays.

 

vi.

 

Getting traded is not as bad as he expected it to be. He loves the Islanders, he really does, but there’s nothing wrong with them letting him go. He isn’t a teenager anymore - god, he hasn’t been a teenager in years, he knows his worth now and he knows the leafs need him more than the Islanders do.

 

The leafs have a bunch of very good, very skilled kids coming up and he knows they’re bringing him in to can protect them on the ice. Off the ice too, probably, but that’s something he’s willing to do without a contract, he’s always cared about his teammates and that’s not going to change now.

  

vii.

 

Mitch’s soulmate mark takes up a lot of space on his body, going from his back to over his hip bone. None of them have seen it, not that they have to, but it’s weird because it’s _Mitch_.

 

He’ll ramble and talk about everything, he’ll laugh and joke about himself like he’s anything but great yet he won’t talk about soulmates, ever.

 

For all they are a young team, they don’t talk as much shit as Matt thought they would. They are a bunch of very respectful kids, they are nosy but they don’t try to stick their noses where they don’t belong to and they don’t seem interested in soulmates gossip.

 

That changes when Brian Boyle gets traded to the team.

 

Matt knows Brian, they’ve played against each other, they’ve punched each other way too many times to pretend not to. They are career fourth liners, it’s what they do, they fight and cling and scrape for everything so nobody else has to.

 

Brian has his marks in full display. _Marks_ , plural.

 

That makes the conversation spark into life, it’s not impossible to have two soulmates but it’s not that common either. And Brian has a lot to say about it.

 

It’s like a dam’s been broken open and then everyone has something to say, though not everyone seems to want.

 

“I don’t- I’ve met my soulmate already, you know?” Mitch’s voice is not the loudest, but everyone goes silent anyway.  
  
“What?!” “Mitchy!” “Why didn’t you tell us?!”

 

“Uh, he doesn’t- My soulmate doesn’t want me, I think? Like, he said my words but maybe I’m not his, I don’t know.”  

 

It makes more sense now, that Mitch keeps it covered.

 

One sided bonds are not unheard of but they’re not frequent either. Matt knows what Mitch must be feeling, he remembers the sting of his skin erasing and he remembers the sting of knowing he wasn’t wanted… except he never got to know his soulmate, he imagines that must be even harder; to know that they’re yours but you’re not theirs, to be bluntly rejected.

 

viii.

 

They spend their bye week in the caribbean with some of the guys and it’s nice, it’s good to leave Toronto for a little while. Toronto breathes hockey, it’s not hard to feel like drowning in its intensity.

 

Matt doesn’t really know what changed, but they don’t spend all their time together anymore, Mitch doesn’t follow him around that much anymore. Still, it would be easy to take Mitch to bed again, he knows he wouldn’t say no, even if they’re not as tight as they were right after the season started.

 

So he does, because it’s easy, because it’s good, because it’s familiar.

 

Mitch is needy, soft whines dying in his throat, needier than Matt remembered him being but it’s okay, Mitch scratches his back and that’s okay too, it makes it hurt. Matt is used to hurting like that.

 

He still leaves in the morning, with the sun just peeking over the ocean. It’s too pretty to close the blinds on Mitch, and it’s better that way anyway.

 

That way the first thing Mitch will notice is that Matt isn’t there anymore.

 

ix.

 

Mitch gets sick at some point of March. Matt won’t lie and try to say he noticed because he didn’t, at least not until he skated past Mitch during drills and heard him trying to cough out a lung. It makes him feel uneasy.

 

He momentarily forgets about it when Babs screams at them to _hurry up_ , but he gets back to that feeling when he walks into the locker room just in time to see Mitch sitting up after doubling over to cough, “I don’t feel so good.”

 

“Mitch,” Babcock says, drawing all eyes to him, “maintenance day tomorrow, I don’t wanna see you here. Matt, make sure he rests.”

 

.

 

Mitch looks happy to be back in Matt’s bed, which is interesting if nothing else. He’s drowning in the middle of his duvet blanket combo, and he looks ridiculously small.

 

“Fuck, you’re burning up.”

 

Mitch just hums and smiles up to him. He looks fucked up, his cheeks red and his eyes wet but he’s still a sight, “Marty,” he says softly, raspy, “love you.”

 

x.

 

Mo stops him on the way out of the locker room a few weeks later, “Look, I don’t really know what’s going on between the two of you, but be careful with Mitchy, okay? Just- Don’t play him.”

 

That settles it, this idea Matt’s been entertaining since forever.

 

Finding Mitch takes a few more minutes than he would’ve liked, not that he had to actually look for long since Mitch’s just having lunch.

 

He still remembers what the first thing he said to Mitch was, he’d gotten into the habit of trying to remember those things in case he ever needed to, in case he ever met his elusive soulmate.  

 

“Well, you really are an annoying little shit, aren’t you?” Matt says, coming to sit next to Mitch.

 

“Matt, just- Don’t,” he can feel Mitch go tense, but he’s not backing down now.

 

“Here, write down your name.”

 

“Marty, don’t do this, it’s not fair.”

 

“Mitchy, write your name. Please”

 

XI.

 

This time he doesn’t leave but he does close the curtains.

 

“I didn’t know how to write my name when I was little, kept putting the C before the T. Dyslexia’s a bitch, you know?”

 

.

  
Matt’s Soulmate mark looks like a thick ankle bracelet , the **Mitch** around it in big blocky letters, wobbly like a kid’s hand writing.

**Author's Note:**

> 100% totally not beta-ed, asked my friend to but then got too impatient to wait for them to check it, sorry bb!  
> uh, shrugs?


End file.
